Plow vs Skyscraper

by Paula Bosse

(click for super-gigantic image)

by Paula Bosse

Here’s an unexpected view of the Dallas skyline, by legendary Life magazine photographer Carl Mydans. The photograph — titled “Lucius Washington and Two Mules Plow the Fields Before the Dallas Skyline” — is from the collection of the Smithsonian Institution, with catalog description here. Though the Smithsonian lists this photo as being from 1939, it’s possible that it was taken a year earlier, as The Dallas Morning News reported on April 2, 1938 that Mydans was in town shooting the Dallas skyline. A major article on Texas appeared in Life magazine a year later, in the April 10, 1939 issue, featuring a different, very large photo of the Dallas skyline by Mydans, which can be seen here.

Below, an enlarged detail, lightened a bit.

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More on Mydans from the Duke University collection here, with examples of his FSA, Life magazine, and WWII reportage here.